(CIRC. A.D. 219.)
Nearly all the Latin Martyrologies commemorate these martyrs, without
giving their names. Baronius added to the Roman Martyrology, that
they suffered under Ulpian the præfect; this was a conjecture of his,
for Ulpian was bitterly hostile to the Christians, and it was under
him that S. Martina (Jan. 1st) suffered. Alexander himself, only
seventeen when he came to the throne, was of mild disposition, and the
reins of government were in the hands of his mother Mamæa, who, with
the approbation of the senate, chose sixteen of the wisest and most
virtuous senators as a council of state, and at the head of this placed
the learned Ulpian, a prudent governor, and severe disciplinarian, who
could not brook that certain citizens should worship God in any way
than that of the established religion, and looked on Christianity as a
dangerous political element in the state, which demanded extirpation.